Toongabbie, Victoria

Toongabbie is a small country town located in South Eastern Victoria Australia, 177km from Melbourne and just north of Traralgon. The railway station was closed in 1986 and the former railway line has now been absorbed into the Gippsland Plains Rail Trail. At the, Toongabbie had a population of 915.The main attraction in Toongabbie is the Ned Stringer Memorial located on Hower Street. Toongabbie Primary School opened in 1856 and the school is still open to date. The hotel in Toongabbie known as the club hotel closed down in 1913.Toongabbie Post Office opened on 1 December 1865. Toongabbie had an Aussie Rules club which quit in 1999.HistoryThe history of Toongabbie has been captured in the book "Toongabbie, Gippsland A Gateway to the Walhalla Goldfields" by Alan Harding and Roger Ries. Additional information on Toongabbie Victoria can be found on the community website: toongabbie.vic.au and associated Facebook page. Toongabbie was an important town that acted as a supply depot en route to the Walhalla Goldfields. Initially, goods were transported between Toongabbie and Walhalla by horse and as Walhalla boomed, Toongabbie’s carrying industry boomed as well. With the advent of railways in the 1870s and 1880s transportation of goods into Toongabbie was mostly via train and then local carriers to Walhalla. Walhalla then decided that a railway direct to Walhalla was needed and it was decided that Moe would be the starting point. This was bad news for Toongabbie which over the coming years saw many local carriers selling their horses and the town returned to farming. Toongabbie did try to find alternative income sources in oil, marble and gold but these were not successful long term.